


my muse

by skeleechan



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Crushes, Fluff, I Don't Even Know, M/M, Mingyu is kinda shy, Probably more tags to be added, References to Depression, Tour Guide!Wonwoo, art student!mingyu, but Wonwoo thinks it’s cute, i project myself onto mingyu A Lot, side!JunHao - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-07-05 05:21:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15857034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skeleechan/pseuds/skeleechan
Summary: The one where Mingyu is a suffering art major and Wonwoo is the gallery’s tour guide.(I’m so sorry, I suck at summaries)





	my muse

Mingyu’s absolute favourite pass time was to create art. Ever since he was little he loved to draw. From evil, magic dinosaurs that shoot lasers from their eyes (an underrated masterpiece he created when he was five), to more laboured pieces like the portrait he did of his grandparents when he was 8 that was, how his mother described, Picasso-esque. However, Mingyu, now 19 and a fine art major, has hit a wall. His inspiration has run dry. With less than a month to finish his end of year project he’s emotionally and physically drained from forcing himself to produce work that he’s not even happy with. His best friend, Minghao, has tried to help him any way he can, but something is restricting him. It’s like a cloud of fog has accumulated around his brain.

“Hey! You okay, dude?” Minghao said, snapping Mingyu back to reality, literally. 

“I guess”, he sighed swatted Minghao’s clicking fingers away from his face.

“Is it your ‘art block’ thing?” Mingyu groaned just at the mere mention of it as he turned to look out of the cafe window. It was a fairly nice day, almost a perfect day to sketch. He wanted to cry.

“I just don’t get it?! Why is it so hard to just- just draw?!” He was at his wits end. He was finally going to snap in his local café in front of a whole lot of people. What had his life come to?

“Hey, it’s okay man, you’ll get through it”, Minghao patted his shoulder in genuine sympathy, “Why don’t you try visiting the art gallery in town? I heard they’ve renovated it with loads of new exhibitions”

Despite Mingyu being an art major, he sometimes kind of hated going to galleries. His teachers in high school always dragged his class to them and he’s pretty sure he’s traumatised from witnessing Mrs Knight, his year 10 art teacher, go in depth on the form of the male genitalia in front of Michelangelo’s David in Florence. He might be gay but he can never see that sculpture in the same way again.

“I mean I am pretty desperate at this point” he mumbled, stirring his now cold coffee, “Maybe I’ll have some crazy epiphany or something”

“I can’t guarantee that but it might help you a little”, Minghao chuckled, “Right, I gotta take off, Jun wanted to go to the pet shop to look a the fish”

“The fish?”

“Yeah, I suggested a bird but he wanted to start small. Something about developing our relationship”

Mingyu nodded in both understanding and confusion, “Alright, well, see you later then”

“Yeah, see you!”, Minghao said with a wave, leaving the cafe.

Mingyu waved back then let out a sigh, leaning back in his chair. He needed to do something. The truth is, Mingyu’s ‘art block’ is much bigger than just that. He’s lost his inspiration for life. He doesn’t feel anything anymore. His mind is empty. If someone were to look into his brain he’s pretty sure they would see tumbleweeds and hear crickets. There’s just no emotion in his life. He wants to feel excited, feel motivated, feel love for something like he used to. But there’s nothing and it frustrates him. He’d never admit this to his friends, however, because being a burden is the last thing he wants to be. But, goddamn, he only wants to feel something again... anything.

—

The next day, Mingyu decided to sleep in, all this stress has exhausted him lately. He just hopes something will click today and his turmoil would be over, but, Mingyu knows that is highly unlikely and a terribly unrealistic way of romanticising his life.

He did his normal routine after finally waking up. He didn’t have a dorm-mate at the moment, he didn’t know whether that was better or worse for his current state, but it certainly made his morning regime go a lot quicker. After finishing his breakfast and throwing the bowl in the sink, he lazily brushed a hand through his hair while looking at himself in the mirror. He’d tried to hide the bags gathering under his eyes with some concealer, it barely did the job, but, whatever, it made him look decent enough for the public eye. He put on his grubby, black converse and headed out to the museum. 

The bus ride was pretty slow. He’d shoved his sketchbook into his shoulder bag along with a few pencils in the hope that something might catch his eye. He fished it out of his bag and flipped through it to pass the time. It mostly consisted of drawings of characters and creatures he’d created in his spare time along with a few life drawings and landscapes scattered here and there. God, he missed just sketching out of pure enjoyment. 

He shoved the book back in his bag as the bus arrived at his stop and he hopped off. It was only a five minute walk to the museum and it was kind of nostalgic seeing it as he rounded the corner. His parents used to take him here when he was little, obviously it’s changed a lot since then, however, it still gives him that warm feeling of familiarity in his chest. 

He climbed to steps to the entrance and entered through the large open doors. The place has totally changed. The old walls had been painted white, the floors to match. A large, space-age looking glass piece hung right above the circular reception desk. Brand new artworks were dotted around the place. He knew it was being renovated but not totally ripped out. 

Well at least it’s something different, Mingyu thought to himself as he strode over to reception to gather a few leaflets. 

He decided to start with the older pieces first and work his way around. Maybe seeing the development in art styles could help with his dilemma? 

Renaissance art was the first room and he was suddenly reminded of how it had always held a special place in Mingyu’s heart. It portrays such pure emotion through still images that is hard to replicate nowadays. He’d paced along the walls inspecting each painting until one caught his eye. He glanced at the name, Pietà, Ercole De' Roberti. 

“Right this way ladies and gentlemen” Mingyu was pulled from his reverie by a deep voice. He turned to look at his interrupter and froze. There, standing only a few feet away from him, was possibly the most beautiful human being Mingyu had ever seen. The guy was pretty tall with his soft black hair pushed back off his forehead. His skin was beautifully pale, accentuated by his black shirt and slacks. A nice contrast to the excessively white walls of the room. And don’t get Mingyu started on his eyes. They were sharp, yet, they held an enthusiasm within them as he talked animatedly about the painting behind him to the group of tourists who appeared to be hanging on his every word. Mingyu was so intrigued by this man that he decided to tag along on the tour, he could put some money in the donation box later. 

He didn’t realise how many rooms the gallery actually had, but goddamn was he grateful. The more rooms, the more minutes he gets to spend listening, and looking, to this guy. Despite Mingyu being fairly distracted by his tour guide, he did actually learn some things about the different movements that he’s never known before and discovered some artists he’d never heard of. Maybe this trip was actually what he needed. He made a mental note to thank Minghao later.

They were about halfway through the tour, Mingyu assumed, and the tour guide had let them have a wander around the room. It was Impressionism. Another one of Mingyu’s favourite movements. After taking a look at all the works, he decided to take a seat on one of the benches at the centre of the room. He pulled out his sketchbook from his bag and started drawing the painting directly in front of him. The Murder by Paul Cézanne.

“A keen artist, I see”, a deep voice rumbled over Mingyu’s shoulder, startling him.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you”, the voice spoke, stepping around the bench to sit next to Mingyu. It was the tour guide guy. Shit. Mingyu was suddenly hyper aware of his every move. He could feel the prickling heat between the from how close they’re sitting. Mingyu’s heart raced. If Mingyu just moved a little to the right, their thighs would be touching. And if he let his right hand drop to the oaken bench beneath them, they would brush fingers for a millisecond. Oh god. Mingyu’s face felt like it was on fire just at the thought of it.

“I don’t see many people carrying around sketchbooks anymore, it’s nice to see”, the man said. Mingyu’s throat finally decided to cooperate with him and formed a reply,

“Yeah I- uh major in fine art so it’s good to have one on hand” he chuckled nervously, a blush spreading across his cheeks. Now, Mingyu was never one to be that shy around others. However, throw a totally hot guy into the mix and Mingyu just seems to shut down. Like he’s some horribly stereotypical, awkward high school girl in those cringey rom-coms. His eyes seemed to be doing everything they could to avoid as much eye contact as possible. Not because he wants to, but because he knows that if he locked eyes with the man sitting only a few centimetres away for more than three seconds he would turn into the human definition of ‘gay panic’.

“That’s awesome, I’m just finishing my degree in art history at the moment, maybe we could exchange arty opinions sometime”, the guy said, his lips stretching into a small smile revealing perfectly straight teeth. Mingyu was now officially malfunctioning. 

“Uh, y-yeah, sounds cool”, was all Mingyu could manage. 

“I’m Wonwoo, by the way”

“Mingyu”

“Well, Mingyu, I hope I can keep you interested for the next forty-five minutes”, he stood from his seat and turned to the rest of the room, “Ladies and gentlemen, let’s move on to the Expressionist era”

Mingyu stood from the bench following Wonwoo close behind and continued the tour, with almost a skip in his step in his step.

—

The tour ended as Wonwoo predicted, forty-five minutes later, and Mingyu felt almost kind of sad. As he turned to leave, after dropping his £4 into the donation box, he heard a voice from behind him.

“Mingyu!”, Mingyu furrowed his brow and turned back to see Wonwoo jogging up to him.

“We should definitely have that arty talk sometime”, Wonwoo smiled, taking Mingyu’s hand and placing a piece of paper in his palm.

Before Mingyu could even say anything, Wonwoo had already walked away. He glanced down at the piece of paper, a neat scrawl of numbers, signed off with a ‘call me ;)’. Mingyu’s cheeks grew warm as he turned to leave the building with a smile on his face and a flutter in his heart.

—

That night, Mingyu had painted for hours and hours and felt something he hadn’t felt in months. He definitely needed to thank Minghao later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BTW I changed my twt username, and my Ao3 user at that just bc I can, so yeah it’s @skelechans now so pls hmu, I’m sad and lonely lmao

**Author's Note:**

> Wooo I’m back with another meanie fic!! The last time I posted on here was over a year ago and I’ve had so many ideas since then but none of them have fulfilled me, but, here I am back with another hot, unplanned mess. I hope you guys enjoyed it!! Please let me know if there’s any mistakes too it’s 2am and I’ve no doubt missed something :) ALSO There will (hopefully) be a part two to this but I’m starting college soon so idk when it’ll be out BUT in the meantime kudos and comments are really appreciated and you can hmu on my Twitter it’s @kiburichi bc I need more svt/meanie moots ;3;


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